Jewelry made from biodegradable and/or recycled materials

ABSTRACT

An item of jewelry is manufactured almost entirely from biodegradable and/or recycled. According to a presently preferred embodiment, jewelry is made primarily from a cornstarch based resin. The resin is used to form beads which are strung together to form a bracelet, a necklace or an earring. According to some embodiments, a charm bearing an environmental message is attached to the string of beads. The charm may be made from biodegradable material or from recycled metal such as recycled brass. The jewelry is preferably packaged in a clear envelope which is also made from cornstarch based resin. A hang tag is attached to the envelope with organic hemp string. The hang tag is made from unbleached post-consumer waste recycled paper and is printed with a soy based ink.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates broadly to jewelry. More particularly, thisinvention relates to jewelry which is made from biodegradable and/orrecycled materials.

2. State of the Art

The history of jewelry is ancient. Shell beads recently found in Israelare believed to be 100,000 years old. Originally, jewelry served avariety of practical purposes, e.g. as a store of wealth or to holdclothing together. More recently jewelry has been used primarily asadornment. Jewelry has also been used to convey messages. For example,rings are commonly used to identify graduation from an educationalinstitution, membership in an organization, commitment to a partner,etc. Some messages conveyed by jewelry may be considered political suchas support for troops in combat, concern for finding the cure for aparticular disease such as AIDS, cancer, etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An item of jewelry according to the invention is manufactured almostentirely from biodegradable and/or recycled materials and can be worn asa symbol of support for environmentalism. According to a presentlypreferred embodiment, a bracelet is provided that is made primarily froma cornstarch based resin. The resin is used to form beads which arestrung together to form a bracelet. According to the presently preferredembodiment, a charm bearing a message is attached to the bracelet.According to exemplary embodiments, the message on the charm is symbolicof the phrase “no plastic” or is the international symbol for recycling.The charm may be made from biodegradable material or from recycled metalsuch as recycled brass. The recycled brass may be silver plated orplated with another material. The bracelet is preferably packaged in aclear envelope which is also made from cornstarch based resin. A hangtag is attached to the envelope with organic hemp string. The hang tagis made from unbleached post-consumer waste recycled paper and isprinted with a soy based ink. The hang tag preferably is imprinted withenvironmental messages, the address of a website where more informationabout environmentalism can be found, an email address for suggestions,and information about how the jewelry was manufactured.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentto those skilled in the art upon reference to the detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the provided figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a bracelet with a charm packaged in aclear envelope with a hang tag according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of a second embodiment of a braceletwith a charm according to the invention;

FIGS. 4-6 are plan views of necklaces according to the invention;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of earrings according to the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a bracelet with different sized beads accordingto the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to FIG. 1, an item of jewelry 10 according to the inventionis manufactured almost entirely from biodegradable and/or recycledmaterials and can be worn as a symbol of support for environmentalism.According to a presently preferred embodiment, a bracelet is providedthat is made primarily from a cornstarch based resin. A suitable resinis PSM.

PSM is an abbreviation for Plastarch Material that is biodegradableresin made from corn starch. It is designed to supplement or evenreplace conventional petroleum based plastics. PSM is derived fromnatural agricultural resources and ensure characteristics andperformance just like conventional plastic material, but without riskingpollution or the need for waste disposal. At the same time, theyguarantee to save energy, reduce the use of new resources and biodegradenaturally and safety, without harming our environment. PSM products arestable in the atmosphere. They are biodegradable in compost, wet soil,fresh water, seawater and activated sludge where micro-organisms exist.It will be 62.1% biodegraded in 81 days and fully biodegraded in about270 days. The table below illustrates the composition of a typical PSMwith the ingredients identified by common name as well as CAS (ChemicalAbstracts Service) Registry Number.

Ingredient Amount CAS Registry Number Corn Starch 80% 9005-25-8Hydroxyethyl Cellulose 8% 9004-62-0 Chitosan 4% 9012-76-4 Poly (vinylalcohol) 1% 9002-82-5 Sodium Stearate 2%  822-16-2 Glycerol 5%  56-81-5

Returning now to FIG. 1, the resin is used to form beads 12 which arestrung together with a filament 14 (see also FIG. 2) through athroughbore 13 in each bead to form a bracelet. The filament 14 ispreferably elastic. The beads 12 may be colored with a dye made fromherbal tea. According to the presently preferred embodiment, a charm 16bearing a message is attached to the filament of the bracelet. Accordingto the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the message on the charm is symbolicof the phrase “no plastic”. The charm 16 may be made from biodegradablematerial or from recycled metal such as recycled brass. The recycledbrass may be silver plated or plated with another material.

The bracelet 10 is preferably packaged in a clear envelope 18 which isalso made from cornstarch based resin. The envelope is sealed about itsperiphery 20 and a hole 22 is punched in one corner of the envelope. Ahang tag 24 is attached to the envelope with organic hemp string 26which passes through the hole 22 and a similar hole 28 which is punchedinto the tag 24. The hang tag is made from unbleached post-consumerwaste recycled paper and is printed with a soy based ink. The hang tagpreferably is imprinted with environmental messages, the address of awebsite where more information about environmentalism can be found, anemail address for suggestions, and information about how the jewelry wasmanufactured. Preferably, the tag 24 is folded along edge 30 so that itopens to reveal two inner “pages” as well as two outer pages.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of a bracelet 110 wherein similarreference numerals (increased by 100) refer to similar parts. Accordingto this embodiment, the charm 116 bears the international symbol forrecycling.

FIGS. 4-6 illustrate necklaces according to the invention. The necklaceof FIG. 4 has beads of increasing size leading out from the clasp to thecenter of the necklace. FIG. 5 shows a necklace comprised of threestrands of beads with each strand having different sized beads. FIG. 6shows a necklace with alternating large and small beads. The small beadsmay be recycled metal beads.

FIG. 7 shows earrings comprised of a length of beads linked to eachother by recycled metal links.

FIG. 8 shows a bracelet having multiple different sized beads whichgives the bracelet a more “natural” appearance.

There have been described and illustrated herein several embodiments ofjewelry made from biodegradable and/or recycled materials. Whileparticular embodiments of the invention have been described, it is notintended that the invention be limited thereto, as it is intended thatthe invention be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that thespecification be read likewise. It will therefore be appreciated bythose skilled in the art that yet other modifications could be made tothe provided invention without deviating from its spirit and scope asclaimed.

1. An item of jewelry, comprising: a plurality of beads made fromplastarch material, each bead defining a throughbore; an endlessfilament extending through each throughbore joining said plurality ofbeads.
 2. An item of jewelry according to claim 1, further comprising: acharm coupled to said filament.
 3. An item of jewelry according to claim2, wherein: said charm bears a message concerning environmentalism. 4.An item of jewelry according to claim 3, wherein: said message is “noplastic”.
 5. An item of jewelry according to claim 3, wherein: saidmessage is the international symbol for recycling.
 6. An item of jewelryaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a clear envelope, said beadsand said filament being contained within said clear envelope, whereinsaid clear envelope is made from plastarch material.
 7. An item ofjewelry according to claim 6, wherein: said clear envelope defines anenvelope throughbore.
 8. An item of jewelry according to claim 6,further comprising: a hang tag defining a tag throughbore; and a cordextending through said envelope throughbore and said tag throughborejoining said envelope and said hang tag.
 9. An item of jewelry accordingto claim 8, wherein: said cord is made of organic hemp.
 10. An item ofjewelry according to claim 9, wherein: said hang tag is made ofunbleached recycled paper.
 11. An item of jewelry according to claim 10,wherein: said hang tag is imprinted with soy-based ink.
 12. An item ofjewelry according to claim 1, wherein: said beads are dyed with herbaltea.
 13. An item of jewelry according to claim 1, wherein: said filamentis elastic.
 14. An item of jewelry according to claim 1, wherein: saidbeads are different sizes.